Shy penguin species wins New Zealand’s Bird Of The Year after contest without the controversies of previous years
The yellow-eyed penguin has won New Zealand’s fiercely-contested Bird Of The Year competition – with campaigners hoping its victory will prompt a revival of the species.
The birds, thought to be the rarest type of penguin in the world, are a shy species sometimes referred to as “hoihos” – meaning “noise shouters” in the Maori language.
Victory in New Zealand’s Bird Of The Year competition comes after a long-running contest that was without the foreign interference scandals and cheating controversies of past polls.
Instead, campaigners sought votes in the usual ways – launching meme wars, seeking celebrity endorsements and even getting tattoos to prove their loyalty.
More than 50,000 people voted in the poll, 300,000 fewer than last year, when British late-night host John Oliver drove a humorous campaign for the puteketeke – a “deeply weird bird” which eats and vomits its own feathers – securing a landslide win.
‘Birds are our heart and soul’
This year, the number of votes cast represented 1% of the population of New Zealand – a country where nature is never far away and where a love of native birds is instilled in citizens from childhood.
“Birds are our heart and soul,” said Emma Rawson, who campaigned for the fourth-placed ruru, a small brown owl with a melancholic call.
Birds are much-loved in New Zealand and often rare. File pic: AP
New Zealand’s only native mammals are bats and marine species, putting the spotlight on its birds, which are beloved – and often rare.
Yellow-eyed penguins are only found on New Zealand’s South and Chatham islands – and on subantarctic islands south of the country.
Numbers have dropped by 78% in the past 15 years.
“This spotlight couldn’t have come at a better time. This iconic penguin is disappearing from mainland Aotearoa (the Maori-language name for New Zealand) before our eyes,” Nicola Toki, chief executive of Forest & Bird – the organisation that runs the poll, said.
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Despite intensive conservation efforts on land, she said, the birds drown after getting caught up in nets in the sea and cannot find enough food.
“The campaign has raised awareness, but what we really hope is that it brings tangible support,” said Charlie Buchan, campaign manager for the hoiho.
Numbers of the Hoi-ho have dropped by 78% in the last 15 years. File pic: AP
But while the bird is struggling, it attracted a star billing in the poll: celebrity endorsements flew in from English zoologist Jane Goodall, host of the Amazing Race Phil Keoghan, and two former New Zealand prime ministers.
Aspiring bird campaign managers – this year ranging from power companies to high school students – submit applications to Forest & Bird for the posts.
The hoiho bid was run by a collective of wildlife groups, a museum, a brewery and a rugby team in the city of Dunedin, where the bird is found on mainland New Zealand, making it the highest-powered campaign of the 2024 vote.
“I do feel like we were the scrappy underdog,” said Emily Bull, a spokesperson for the runner-up campaign, for the karure – a small, “goth” black robin only found on New Zealand’s Chatham Island.
Yellow-eyed penguins are only found on New Zealand’s South and Chatham islands. Pic: AP
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The karure’s bid was directed by the students’ association at Victoria University of Wellington, prompting a fierce skirmish on the college campus when the student magazine staged an opposing campaign for the korora, or little blue penguin.
The rivalry provoked a meme war and students in bird costumes.
Several people got tattoos.
When the magazine’s campaign secured endorsements of the city council and local zoo, Ms Bull despaired for the black robin’s bid.
But the karure – which has performed a real-life comeback since the 1980s, with conservation efforts increasing the species from five birds to 250 – took second place overall.
A karure, or Chatham Islands black robin was the runner-up in the competition. Pic: AP
‘Wholesome’ fun
Referring to Oliver’s high-profile campaign last year, Ms Rawson said: “There’s been no international interference, even though that was actually a lot of fun.”
It was not the only controversy the election has seen.
While anyone in the world can vote, Forest & Bird now requires electors to verify their ballots after foreign interference plagued the contest before.
In 2018, Australian pranksters cast hundreds of fraudulent votes in favour of the shag.
The following year, Forest & Bird was forced to clarify that a flurry of votes from Russia appeared to be from legitimate bird-lovers.
While campaigns are fiercely competitive, managers described tactics more akin to pro wrestling – in which fights are scripted – than divisive political contests.
“Sometimes people want to make posts that are kind of like beefy with you and they’ll always message you and be like, hey, is it OK if I post this?” Ms Bull said.
“There is a really sweet community. It’s really wholesome.”
World
Hezbollah leader accuses Israel of targeting ‘5,000 people in two minutes’ as he admits Lebanon blasts are ‘unprecedented blow’
There’s raw anger and real fear on the streets of Lebanon after two days of multiple explosions involving communication devices.
Less than 24 hours after the country was plunged into a major emergency with more than a dozen killed and nearly three thousand casualties being admitted to 90 hospitals, there was panic and deaths again.
There were numerous explosions, this time involving two-way radios being used by primarily Hezbollah operatives, security and supporters.
Thousands had gathered in the southern suburbs of the Lebanese capital, Beirut, to attend funerals for four people killed during the pager explosions just one day earlier – among them a young boy.
But barely had the funerals begun and as mourners were just beginning to pay their condolences, we heard the sound of an explosion a short distance away followed by shouts and screams.
Mourners attend the funeral of people who were killed amid the detonation of pagers across Lebanon. Pic: Reuters
As we made our way to the site of the explosion, people were running in the opposite direction. We saw a crying mother holding on to her young child who was also sobbing, hurriedly trying to make their way out of the area.
A gaggle of men huddled together, one of them had blood smeared down his arm. An ambulance roared through the crowd to pick up the casualties, although as the funeral cortege continued undeterred, it was difficult to determine the numbers amid the mayhem.
We spotted members of Hezbollah, which is designated as a terror group by the UK and US, gathering handheld radios and taking them out of the area, their batteries removed.
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Fresh blasts heard at funeral for Hezbollah members
Much of our filming was curtailed by angry, aggressive men wearing all-black clothes who appeared to be Hezbollah officials or supporters, although none of them identified themselves.
Many insisted we did not film what was happening in front of us by putting their hands in front of the camera lens and on one occasion attempting to snatch the mobile phone I was broadcasting on. As my colleague Chris Cunningham remonstrated with him, his mobile phone was taken and whisked away.
A walkie-talkie which exploded in a home in Baalbek, east Lebanon. Pic: AP
There is a lot of anxiety on display here and that is translating into red-rage anger.
‘Silence speaks volumes’
The Sky News team has been speaking to those close to the Hezbollah inner circle and there is both embarrassment and concern that the fighting group’s communications network has been so demonstrably compromised.
You won’t find many here who do not view Israel as responsible for these attacks.
The Israeli authorities have neither confirmed or denied their involvement but as my Sky colleague Alistair Bunkall put it: “The silence speaks volumes.”
Many within Hezbollah fear – much the same way as the UN secretary general has been speculating – that this widespread attack on the group’s communications may be a prelude to a more serious attack, even a ground invasion.
But doing the social media rounds are also plenty of theories that this may be Israel’s way of forcing Hezbollah to back down.
The atmosphere in Lebanon will not have been improved on hearing the Israeli prime minister, hours after the radio explosions, vow to return his citizens to their homes in north Israel.
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Israel declares ‘new phase’ of war
About 90,000 Israelis have been displaced from the area because of almost daily shelling by Hezbollah fighters along the disputed border.
Israel’s cross-border attacks into Lebanon have similarly displaced large numbers of Lebanese from its southern border – an estimated 120,000.
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Explosions will cause immense embarrassment and sow chaos
Israel’s defence minister will have also sent temperatures rising with his declaration they were entering a “new phase” of the war and were going to concentrate on the north, alongside Gaza and retrieving their hostages.
A mixture of fragments and blood stains
Where one of the two-way radios had exploded in the suburb of Dahiyeh, the street was a mixture of fragments and blood stains.
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A car bonnet had been left speckled with blood and we spotted blood smeared inside on the seats.
They appeared to be small explosions but by the end of the day, the death toll was still rising, outstripping those killed 24 hours earlier.
Along with the rising number of dead, there was a definite increase in fear and worry over the safety of any and every communications device.
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Lebanon: How did the blasts happen?
The UN Security Council will discuss the dramatic turn of events at a meeting this Friday.
But earlier on Wednesday, the Lebanese health minister Firass Abiad told us where he saw the blame.
“This is an act of aggression against non-combatants… you know, community people,” he said.
“Even if some of them [victims] are combatants, this is a non-discriminatory attack….and the use of this non-discriminatory force or attacks which, will clearly affect civilians, is in my mind against international law.”
Alex Crawford reports from Beirut with cameraman Jake Britton, specialist producer Chris Cunningham and Lebanon team Jihad Jneid, Hwaida Saad and Sami Zein.
World
Beirut blasts: Lebanon rocked by wave of hand-held radio blasts as ‘solar energy systems explode’
Lebanon has been rocked by a second wave of blasts, this time linked to hand-held radios, as reports have emerged that solar energy systems have exploded in several areas as well.
At least 20 people were killed in Wednesday’s blasts, with more than 450 injured, according to Lebanon’s health ministry.
The death toll from Tuesday’s explosions stands at 12, with nearly 3,000 injured.
Following the second wave of explosions, Israel’s defence minister declared a “new phase” of the war as its army turned its attention to the northern front with Lebanon.
Middle East latest: Israel declares ‘new phase’ of war after second wave of blasts
An ambulance arrives at a hospital in Beirut after hand-held radios exploded across Lebanon on Wednesday. Pic: Reuters
Smoke rises from a shop in Sidon after the explosions on Wednesday. Pic: Reuters
Multiple reports have come in from Lebanon saying hand-held radios used by Hezbollah have exploded across the country’s south, and in the southern suburbs of the capital.
Sky News special correspondent Alex Crawford witnessed the seeming aftermath of one of the explosions, at a funeral held in southern Beirut for four people killed in Tuesday’s pager blasts.
While Wednesday’s explosions seemingly targeted Hezbollah members, it is not clear whether or not bystanders were caught in the blasts as well.
Meanwhile, Lebanon’s official news agency reported that home solar energy systems exploded in several areas of Beirut, AP news agency said.
Speaking to Israeli troops on Wednesday, defence minister Yoav Gallant made no mention of the exploding electronic devices in Lebanon, but he praised the work of Israel’s army and security agencies.
After months of war against Hamas in Gaza, “the centre of gravity is shifting to the north by diverting resources and forces. We are at the start of a new phase in the war”, he said.
Many of the wounds suffered in Wednesday’s explosions were to the stomach and hands, it was reported.
This comes after nearly 3,000 people were injured and 12 were killed by pager explosions in Lebanon on Tuesday.
Two children were said to be among the dead, according to Lebanese health minister Firas Abiad.
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Hand-held radio exploded ‘because of battery’
Men carry the coffin of Mohamed Hassan Nour al-Din, who was killed on Tuesday. Pic: Reuters
The latest blasts come as Hezbollah alleged the pager explosions were part of a complex Israeli operation.
While the Iran-backed militant group and Hamas both claimed Israel was behind it, the country initially offered no comment.
Experts told Sky News the pager devices would likely have had to have been intercepted and had explosives planted inside them to execute the apparent attack.
A Taiwanese pager maker denied it had produced the devices that exploded on Tuesday.
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Gold Apollo said the devices had been instead made under licence by a company called BAC, based in Budapest, Hungary.
But BAC chief executive Cristiana Barsony-Arcidiacono told Sky News’ US partner NBC News: “I don’t make the pagers. I am just the intermediate. I think you got it wrong.”
Then, a spokesman for Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s government said the pagers involved in Tuesday’s attack had never been in Hungary – but did not deny the firm’s alleged involvement.
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